Carrier cartons



July 27, 1965 H, G, zAsTRow 3,197,116

CARRIER CARTONS Filed Feb. l, 1965 X7 j 5,2 .F7 G. 4

' Z 7 lNvENToR #Aena ZAsrRow F/ G. 5 ATTORNEY United States Patent() 3,197,116 CARREER CARTGNS Harold G. Zastrow, Minneapolis, Minn., assigner to Waldorf Paper Products Company, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota 1Filed Feb. 1, 1963, Ser. No. 255,500 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-52) This invention relates to an improvement in carrier cartons and deals particularly with a sealed carton which may be opened to form a hand opening therein.

With the growth in supermarkets and other cash and carry stores, the need for cartons and containers which may be carried in the hand has also increased. It is a simple matter to provide a hand opening in the carton or container, but most such openings expose the contents. It is an object of the present invention to provide a carton or container which is normally sealed to protect the contents, and which may be folded to provide a inger opening into which the fingers of the hand may be inserted still without exposing the carton contents.

In general, the carton container includes a pair of opposed side wall closing aps which are folded into superposed relation and providing a slit across the central portion of the outermost flap extending generally parallel to the line of fold connecting this flap to its wall panel. The outer Hap is adhered to the inner ap only along the area between the line of the slit and the free end of the outer flap. rIhe side wall bearing the inner of the aps is provided with a fold line which terminates at the upper corners of this side wall and bows downwardly into the side wall intermediate its ends. As a result, when downward pressure is applied to the glued areas of the closure flaps, the portion of the side wall upwardly of the fold line tends to fold toward the plane of the closure iiap secured thereto. This opens the slit to form a finger opening.

A feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the carrying handle may be produced at no added cost in the container and can be closed and sealed on conventional equipment. Thus the carrier may be furnished to the customer at no additional cost but with the added convenienee.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claim:

In the drawings forming a part of the specification;

FIGURE l is a perspective View of the carrier in sealed condition.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective View of the same carrier yafter the slit has been opened to form the hand opening.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view on a vertical plane through the top of the carrier when in the position illustrated in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic view of the blank from which the carrier is formed.

The carrier carton A includes an end wall 19, a first side wall 11, an end wall 12, and a second side wall 13 foldably connected along parallel fold lines 1-, 15, and 15 respectively. A glue flap 17 is connected to the second side walls 13 along a line of fold 19. Obviously, the blank could be secured in tubular relation by taping if preferred.

The bottom closure of the carton may be formed in any suitable manner, and in the arrangement illustrated, closure flaps and 21 are secured to the lower edges of the end walls lil and 12, and side wall closure ilaps 22 and 23 are connected to the lower edges of the side walls 11 and 13, the flaps being secured to the walls along a substantially common line of fold 24.

In a similar manner, end wall closure flaps .25 and 26 are hinged to the upper edges of the end walls i@ and 12, and side wall closure aps 27 and 29 are foldably conddllld nected to the side walls l1 and 13 along a substantially common line of fold 30. Thus the blank to this point is identical to a regular paste end carton or full Voverlap container.

To form the hand opening, the closing flap 27 is provided with an elongated slit 31 which is of suicient length to admit the fingers of one hand. The slit 31 extends generally parallel to the fold line 30 and may have slightly curved ends 32 which curve toward the fold line 30. The slit 31 is approximately half way between the fold line 30 and the free end of the flap 2.

Furthermore, a fold line 33 is provided in the side wall panel 13. The fold line 33 may be arcuate, and the ends 34 and 35 of the fold line extend to the upper corners of the side wall panel 13 or at the juncture between the side wall 13 and the end walls. In the arrangement illustrated, the fold line includes angularly extending end portions 36 and 37 and a center portion 3-9 which is generally parallel to the fold line 3i?.

In operation, the carton is glued into tubular form by adhering the glue flap 17 in overlapping relation with the end wall Ill or in any other similar manner. The bottom closure is then closed in a conventional manner and the 'carton filled. The top closure is formed by folding the end wall flaps 25 and 26 into a common plane, folding the side wall Hap 29 in overlapping relation and superimposed overlapping relation to the end wall flaps 25 and 26, and folding the side wall flap 27 outwardly of the flap 29. The flap 29 may or may not be adhered to the flaps Z5 and 26 over the entire area thereof if desired. However, the iiap 29 is secured to the under surface of the flap 27 only in the area outwardly of the transverse line including the slit 31. In other words, only the area near the free end of the ap 27 outwardly of the slit 3l is adhered to the ap 2?. When completed, the carrier appears as in FIG- URE 1 of the drawings. When it is desired to carry the carton, downward pressure is applied to the areas of the flaps 27 and 29 which are adhered. This causes the panel 13 to bulge outwardly in the center and causes the portion of the panel 13 which lies above the fold line 33 to fold toward the plane of the flap 29 to which it is attached. Thus the area of the two flaps between the slit 31 and the free edge of the iiap 27 will bow downwardly as indicated in FIGURE 2 of the drawings, permitting the fingers to be inserted through the area opened up by the slit. It will be noted that the ap 29 remains between the finger tips and the contents of the package so that the hand does not come in actual contact with the carton contents.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principles of construction and operation of my improvement in Carrier Cartons, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that changes may be made within the scope of the following claim without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

A carrier container comprising a generally rectangular container having rectangularly arranged side and end walls, bottom closure aps on said side and end walls folded into superposed relation and Secured together to form a bottom closure, top closure flaps on said side walls, end wall closure flaps secured to said end walls and folded into a common plane, the closure flap on one said side wall being folded down and the other side wall being folded to overlie said one side wall closure flap, both said side wall closure flaps being substantially the full size of the container end, a slit through the intermediate portion of said other side wall closure flap along a line generally parallel to the fold line connecting this other closure ap to its side wall, said slit terminating short of the parallel end edges of said other closure Hap, said other closure flap being adhered to said one closure ap only in the Patentes .any 27, i965 area between said line and the free end of said other closure ap, and a fold line in said one side wall terminating at the upper corners thereof where said one side wall joins said end walls and said fod line bowing downwardly intermediate the said corners, the opposie Vside wall being free of a similar fold line, whereby when downward pressure is exerted upon the portion of said other closure ap above said glued area, the portion of said one side wall above said fold line may fold toward the piane of the closure fiap secured thereto and the gued areas of the closure flaps may bow downwardly to open said slit.

11, References Crt-ei by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,681,143 6/54r Guyer 229-52 2,785,847 3/57 Ferrer 229-52 2,802,615 S/57 Radke 229--52 TEORGE O. RALSTGN, Primary Examiner.

EARL I. DRUMMOND, FRANKLN T. GARRETT,

Examiners. 

